In recent years, there has been a profusion of appliances and tools that are portable in nature. These have included everything from power tools and flashlights to small appliances such as those typically used in and around the house. Among the most popular small appliances is the portable hand-held vacuum cleaner.
Typically, the portable hand-held vacuum cleaner is sold with a mounting bracket adapted to be secured to the wall near an electrical outlet. The mounting bracket usually includes an internal transformer adapted to be supplied with electricity from the outlet by means of an electrical cord and plug. Additionally, the portable hand-held vacuum cleaner includes a rechargeable battery pack automatically connected to the transformer whenever the vacuum cleaner is disposed on the mounting bracket during periods of non-use.
Based upon the experience of many consumers, portable hand-held vacuum cleaners are effective for many light cleaning tasks in and around the home. It has been found, however, that such vacuum cleaners are often less useful than intended because of an inherent characteristic, i.e. their portable hand-held nature. In particular, this characteristic makes it difficult for the consumer to use the portable hand-held vacuum cleaner for purposes of cleaning a floor.
Because of this shortcoming of such devices, it has remained to provide a means for increasing the versatility of portable hand-held vacuum cleaners. This is particularly desirable in view of the large number of such vacuum cleaners that have been sold and continue to be sold to the buying public. If it was possible to use such vacuum cleaners in either hand-held or upright fashion, a consumer would find them much more desirable.
The present invention is directed to overcoming the above-stated problems and accomplishing the stated objects.